Census van comes to town

COEUR d'ALENE - Susan Weathers gazed at the piles of pamphlets, key chains and pens at the display for the 2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour on Tuesday.

Not only would it help her learn about decennial count, she said, it might help her son find work, too.

"He was a construction worker, and has been out of work since last year," Weathers said. "For some people, this census came just in time."

At the big blue van parked outside the Coeur d'Alene Public Library Tuesday, a census spokesperson assured Weathers that those hired as census workers can tally up to 40 hours a week at $12.25 an hour.

"It's not as much as he made before, but it's more than he's making now," Weathers said as she stopped to pick up other information brochures.

She expected to learn other things about the census there, she added.

"If people ask me (about the census), I can tell them, 'You need to get involved!'" she said.

Any and all census questions are welcome at the census regional road tour, a national initiative provided by the federal government.

After stopping by Coeur d'Alene on Tuesday, the tour van will park at Post Falls City Hall today from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., offering several census representatives to answer questions, as well as prominent displays explaining the census questions and why they're necessary.

There are even computers set up to allow folks to access the 2010 Census Web site.

The driving point, said Guadalupe Lopez, census partnership assistant for the Bonner and Boundary county areas, is to encourage folks to fill out their census forms and mail them back.

"There are some areas with low response rates," she said.

On Tuesday, several people drifted down to the setup to peruse the information tables.

Judith Conant with Mountain View Elementary School corralled several students to look at the photos on the side of the van.

The colorful display is intriguing to people of all ages, Conant said.

"The census is something their parents are receiving right now, and they're curious," she said. "We've studied statistics and past almanacs, and they're wanting to know more about how that information is obtained."

Richard Patterson of Harrison dropped by to see if he could get any updates on the census employment test he took three weeks ago.

"I did it 10 years ago, and I really enjoyed it. Just getting out and meeting people," he said.

He hoped lots of others examined the information posted on the displays, he added.

"It's important we get a fair share of the taxes we send to D.C.," he said of how the census determines federal funding allotted to states.

Census spokesperson Gregory Roberts, from the Seattle regional office, said the more folks who mail in their census forms, the more taxpayer money is saved, as it costs roughly $57 to send a census worker to interview an individual who didn't fill out a questionnaire.

"If 75 percent mail back their forms, that will amount to $85 million less (the government spends) than if 74 percent filled theirs out," Roberts said.

If folks don't mail their forms and can't be accessed by census workers, he added, census staff will find out what they can from neighbors and postal workers.

"The Constitution doesn't say count only the people who fill out their forms," he said. "It says count everybody."